Chapter 20: Some Guests Want to Eat the… Chef.

Nikola really should not have gotten such a big head when the first customers began to pay him with money. He was just grilling some food.

His magic was doing all the hard work.

But he did get a big head.

It was when the mist rolled, and his guests decided to just take the food and take off, that he realized something.

No matter what you have survived, there was always something to force you on your knees.

The creatures who came had no mouths. They had no noses.

Just two empty sockets in their skulls and tight skin stretched too thin.

Jack was the first to react. Dimitri was second, taking Nikola by the hand and then rushing off towards the shed.

Nikola didn't want to run. But there was something about Jack jumping in the fray without a second thought that told him one thing:

This was no act of friendship. This was a fight reflex because running was simply not an option.

Nikola rotted his feet in the ground. The study's door was right in front of him.

"I love you," he whispered to Dimitri.

Before he pushed him into the only safe place he could think of and closing the door behind him.

Nikola took his staff and then began to walk out of the cabin.

He knew that he had mana at his fingertips. Knew that all those monsters who had tipped him with mana had their own special abilities.

But there was one ability he found useful at that moment. A siren could bring an entire ship to its doom.

Nikola had just about enough mana for a single scream.

He took a deep breath, gathered his mana in his throat, and then let out a wail.

Jack was not harmed. The wail was not meant for him.

The creatures began to shake. They gripped their heads, roaring to the skies.

Nikola didn't stop there.

He used his staff to force roots out of the ground.

Grasping like a witch's hand, they were. Just as curved, just as sharp.

His tree stirred. It knew that its master was in trouble. For the first time in an age, a tree uprooted itself from the ground to go and fight.

Nikola collapsed on the grass. He could see that there were more of these creatures hiding in the forest.

He knew that should he scream a second time, he was going to shred his lungs.

He still took a deep breath and began to scream. He let out one blood curling scream, coughed out blood, and then he let out another.

Only to be hit over the head for his troubles.

****

When he woke up, he was in pain. There were ropes around him. He was in a cauldron with water. It was pleasantly warm.

Panic gripped him.

They were cooking him alive! He was just a piece of meat for these creatures!

He heard a chuckle.

"You know, you should have really been more careful when accepting gifts," it was the same fire demon from before. The one Nikola thought was Tangra. "I gave you much! But what did you give me?"

Nikola began to trash in his bindings. These creatures had known where to find him. They had known how to target him.

"Honestly, if you thought me a demon, why did you think me harmless?"

Nikola was a fool. Even he could realize that.

"I gave you books, and you started a restaurant," Tangra tsked with his tongue. "And if you honestly believe that you died all of your deaths, I have news for you. The Selkie didn't drag you into the water. I didn't stop your heart, or you would have woken up in a coffin, and not in a hospital bed."

Nikola heard barking in the distance. For all that the water was pleasantly warm, he felt like he was freezing.

"And that kraken sure as hell didn't eat you. You are yet to die even a single time. The question is, druid, will you really go through death? Through the real experience? Or will you bow your head to me?"

Nikola already knew the answer. He didn't want to die.

Not even a single time. Much less three.

He bowed his head. The fire demon finally took his gag out of his mouth.

"Welcome, shaman," the man said, as he handed him a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Do you know how to shoot with a bow?"

"Yes," his father had been adamant that he learns. He had never understood why.

"Good! Oh, and Mister Dulo!" The demon continued, as he waved a hand, and then the monsters he had summoned disappeared. "I rather like the fact you woke up your system and got to gathering mana. But let it not take away from your duties!"

The demon disappeared. Leaving Nikola in the still shimmering cauldron.

He took hold of the edges. Screamed through the pain of the scorching metal coming in contact with his hands and then jumped out.

His bare leg brushed a burning log.

He screamed.

Nikola curled up and though about what he had just done. The bow was right in front of him. The arrows had spilled over the grass.

He could sense more mana and power inside that bow than he had ever imagined his staff could hold.

And yet, he had given up his self for it.

He gagged. Soon, he was throwing up something black over the grass.

He was no longer human.

He was no longer free.

This patch of the forest was unknown to him. He tried desperately to think of a way to get back to Dimitri and Jack.

But the forest kept its silence. It just waved its branches over his head.

Blocking out the faint moonlight.

It was a dark night. A night to feed Nikola's inner feelings.

He took the bow and arrow, said a prayer to a god who would not hear him anymore, and then began to limp towards a deer trail he could see in the distance.

Thinking of what the fire demon would do to him next.

Of what Tangra would demand of him.